Not all religious authority rests on any sort of divine command. In buddhism* , morality is based on the idea that it's immoral to do some things (primarily: kill, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, lie/slander, and consume intoxicants that cloud judgement) because they tend to increase the amount of suffering in the world.
* Which may or may not be considered a religion, depending on how you define things; it's not necessarily theistic, for example.
this is basically utilitarianism. i.e. this action will benefit me, but will create a disproportionate amount of suffering for others, thus increasing net suffering.
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Not all religious authority rests on any sort of divine command. In buddhism* , morality is based on the idea that it's immoral to do some things (primarily: kill, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, lie/slander, and consume intoxicants that cloud judgement) because they tend to increase the amount of suffering in the world.
* Which may or may not be considered a religion, depending on how you define things; it's not necessarily theistic, for example.
this is basically utilitarianism. i.e. this action will benefit me, but will create a disproportionate amount of suffering for others, thus increasing net suffering.